James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch close to One.Tel settlement

Ben Butler, Adele Ferguson

James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch could settle a long-running dispute over their conduct as directors of dotcom bomb One.Tel as early as next week.

It is believed settlement discussions have concentrated on the payment Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch will make to end the stoush, with a range of between $40 million and $50 million said to be under consideration.

This is far short of the $244 million claimed in NSW Supreme Court proceedings by special purpose liquidator Stephen Parbery, of PPB.

Mr Parbery refused to say if a settlement was imminent.

''There have been ongoing talks for some time and things have reached a very delicate stage,'' he said. ''When you're in the process of having private discussions with people, if there's any hint that people are talking about that, it might end the discussions.

''It's such a delicate situation dealing with two big, heavyweight elephants.''

Mr Murdoch was two weeks ago anointed as heir apparent to his father Rupert Murdoch's vast media empire, and a settlement would allow him to move on from the One.Tel debacle.

Founded in 1995, One.Tel rode the late 1990s tech boom under the leadership of high-profile Sydney businessmen Jodee Rich and Rodney Adler to become Australia's fourth-largest telecommunications company.

The venture was the first large-scale foray into business life by Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch, the scions of two of Australia's most successful media dynasties. But despite a successful marketing campaign, One.Tel could not build a viable business and collapsed owing $350 million in May 2001.

At the time, Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch, who had lost $1 billion invested by family vehicles PBL and News Corp, said they had been misled about One.Tel's financial position.

''Like all shareholders we are angry,'' the pair said in a joint statement to the stock exchange. ''We have been profoundly misled as to the true financial position of the company.''

However, just before Christmas in 2003 the NSW Supreme Court appointed Paul Weston as special purpose liquidator to investigate whether One.Tel's collapse was brought on because Mr Packer and Mr Murdoch abandoned a plan to underwrite $132 million in additional funding.

Mr Weston lodged a claim against Mr Packer, Mr Murdoch and their companies in 2007, but it was not served until August 2010.

It was thrown out in May the following year but a fresh claim was filed in 2012.

In June 2012, Mr Weston was removed by the NSW Supreme Court after big One.Tel creditor Optus complained that he had spent too much money and lacked objectivity. He was replaced by Mr Parbery.

News Corporation spokesman Adam Suckling declined to comment, as did former Labor senator Mark Arbib, who is now an adviser to Mr Packer's Crown casino empire.

So far the One.Tel liquidation has paid staff the entire $13 million they were owed, but other creditors have received just 21¢ in the dollar.